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Old Inspiration & Thoughts Revisited...

1/16/2012

We wrote this maybe five or so years ago for an Earth Day Lincoln display we did...seems just as appropriate now as then...so here you go. (Without too many apologies for not blogging in forever and a day!)

A letter from Common Good Farm (from about Spring 2006 or 2007 or so...)

We wrote this letter last year for an Earth Day exhibit…& things haven’t changed much. People have been talking more, but it seems like just more scary food news in the news. We remain hopeful, working in our little corner of the universe, that what we’re doing is making a small difference. We’re pretty sure you probably feel the same way.

If you don’t know us, we have a small farm north of Raymond, Nebraska. Darn close to here. We grow certified organic & Biodynamic vegetables & plants & also organic eggs. We have pork & beef too. We’re trying to create a small farm in this wild Nebraska climate that does good. We like it most of the time, but find ourselves sometimes getting sucked into the whole making-enough-money-to-survive thing & not just being these esoteric-headed farmers trying to farm for the common good.

We’re not food police or farming police or recycling police. Just because we grow great food, doesn’t mean we think we know it all. But we have been thinking about local & organic food for quite a while now…

AND the ONE thing we absolutely positively think that you can do for the environment and for humanity – REALLY! – is to eat locally grown clean/organic food. Now remember, the local is where, the organic (or biodynamic or whatever) is how. People think it is either/or. Not so, say we. You can have both…you can maybe have it all.

And we all need to move past local being the chi-chi trendy thing and have it just be what IS. It just is because it needs to be, and you want it to be and there is no singular thing you can do that will have more impact than this. We truly believe it.

AND of course emphasizing this ONE HUGE ACT of eating local & organic doesn’t preclude the enormous importance of all the other good things we need to do – biking & walking as transport, recycling, consuming less…everything, every day that we should all be & do.

This is not shameless self-promotion. This is HOPE for you & for me & all of us.

Grow a garden. Buy from farmers’ market vendors. Participate in a CSA. Buy local organic goods at your grocery AND demand that they carry them. Eat at restaurants that use locally grown goods. Buy good food from small local shops. Pretty simple – grow, buy, eat LOCAL CLEAN FOOD. Of course we think our farm goods are darn good & that we are happy if you buy our food. And we also think if you do this all organically – well, bravo & bravo again. That makes us super happy too.

Food affects everything. Our economy. Our groundwater. Our soils. Our wildlife. Our mental & physical health. Our community dynamic. Our entire society.

So that’s the little take home message from us today. Most of us can create the opportunity to choose to eat better, eat well, eat good food well grown. Every. Single. Day. It IS a matter of personal sovereignty that benefits humanity, community, economy.

If you don’t believe us, here’s one little statistic from Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: it is this (pg 5: ) “ If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. “

That seems too simple, and yet too huge to ignore.

And if you want to plant a little seed, take one…they’re over there. And go plant it. And when it grows, eat the stuff that comes from it and be happy. (2012 note: We offered seeds at our table for folks to take.)

Most Sincerely,

Ruth Chantry
Evrett Lunquist
common good farm
Raymond NE

2 Comments

What Do We Do in the Winter? (Plus...winter isn't really here yet...)

11/15/2010

3 Comments

It's one of those days on the farm, and at a home...not too disimilar from your own I suppose. What compels me to write after so many months...have time for starters. Just a little, although am procrastinating (only a little) on going outside. Mostly am waiting for laundry to finish...washing the same load 7 times!

And the compelling question I am responding to...so often I get asked "What do you do in the winter?" I'm not really pointing fingers at any single person because I have been asked this so many times over the last 15 years...and more often than not by stay-at-home moms! The short answer I sometimes give is, "I have kids." Need I say more...probably not, but I will.

I know it is a legitimate question because people really are asking about what is it like after we aren't doing vegetables from dawn to dusk...isn't there more time? Yes, there is some. Right now we have been harvesting still a little for store and restaurant sales and have still had folks buying on the farm...so light harvests, but still things to do in the field. Dear farmer husband has been working ground and planting cover crops and I can't even remember what all. Garlic is planted and up and that fall task is always a milestone in the season. And all these tasks don't fall on me, but there are still chores to do (for 600 chickens right now, although we will sort the older layers out soon), and our cattle herd also. The pigs are gone and sold so that chore is done until next spring.

Days like today are not too farmy yet -- which sounds a far cry more relaxing than the morning thus far...at just barely 10 am. So far I have washed one load of laundry 4 times, after 3 washes last night. First to get the crayon out with carb cleaner and all the other washes to get the carb cleaner stink out because I was too generous because there were brand-new clothes in the load and wanted to make it work! We don't usually buy brand-new, but one of our kids needed some things for gym at school and basketball after, and so his new shorts were in that crayon-y load. Good thing his new pants weren't! To round out the morning, the dog threw up on the entry rugs after eating too much and too ripe road-kill deer meat yesterday. One kid accidentally sat in some cat poo this morning because this one stray cat we took in is having issues here and there outside...although am hopeful after a trip to the vet Friday! Children's altercations have been mediated, several breakfasts were made, coffee swilled, bathrooms scrubbed a bit, recycling sorted, some clothes and shoes sorted to pass along to others, winter boot availability/sizes tried on for small fry, beds made, rugs vacuumed, lists rewritten, website updated, fast blog entry and now on to the rest of the day. (Good thing dear farmy husband is doing chores!) Meat will be thawed, row cover picked up, coolers put in storage, eggs washed and packed, laundry continue to be dealt with (fingers crossed!!), more meals and snacks made, a few remaining carrots dug for our own winter storage, daikon radish harvested for storage and later sales, food donation made, evening chores done, a tree planted and so on and so on.

When real winter is here...well, sometimes the winter feels long and short. Chores take longer. Things break, water freezes, animals need more food. Paperwork needs attending to in quantity before we are back in the greenhouse and field -- which is February for the greenhouse. There will be certification papers, taxes, bookeeping, conferences or webinars if we are lucky, lots of egg deliveries, signing up folks for next year and lots of contacts answered and our glorious hopeful seed order. Plans for the future, house repairs, finishing our house (which will likely never happen) and on and on.

Winter isn't as crazy and chaotic but it is still busy and the days are full. We do get a little more social time, some holiday time with family, go to bed at 11:30 or midnight instead of 2 am and maybe read a book or two if we get on it.

Perhaps more later, but have to run...have to see if that carb cleaner smell is GONE!

3 Comments

Experience That Exceeds Value

7/31/2010

4 Comments

We have a neighbor, an old time & style of farmer. One we can really appreciate on many levels. He's rough around the edges in some ways, but knows light years more about farming than I ever will. What is amazing to watch with him is his hay cutting in tandem with the weather. This is the first year in a decade, a little more actually, that he had a hard time jiving with the rain. But that is quite simply because there was so much. So he got behind in hay cutting. But never, ever have I seen this man have his hay rained on.

The field we can watch him cut is south of us with a north facing slope. If he cuts a third of a field, we know it is going to rain. If he cuts half, we know it might rain (or he got started late.) If he cuts the whole field, we know we're clear & no rain is coming...even if the weather folks predict it. He is always right on. You can't really learn that in books. You can't get a degree for that. You can't down-in-your-bones know, rain or no rain, when to cut hay at the right length of stem from a college education. There is absolutely a value in going to college...not saying otherwise, but we have noticed so much our own selves in farming that has nothing to do with books...it is time, patience, experience, observation, common sense, working it & working it some more until you get it right.

There are so many farmers that we know that have so much incredible knowledge within them from their experience...much more than us. It is what makes everyone's farms so unique; the combination of how we're wired, our experience, our heritage, our land, what is called to us & from us.

We are oft amazed (a small joy) when we are packing out CSA shares & grab just enough of something...it is exactly the poundage we need. That is simply a matter of time. Of feel. Of knowing something.

Or walking down to get the mail, glancing at the field & seeing pest damage at 60 ft away & knowing investigation is needed. It is nice to be able to appreciate progression - however small - in one's abilities to improve on something tangible. We try & combine that with some education, some reading, some problem solving, brainstorming. That creative part of farming, combined with a few years under our collective belts, makes it rewarding.

I know this experience happens in so many professions; but usually, though not always, that experience is rewarded & valued externally by others. I know in many of those professions, all of us tend to be more appreciative of it than when seeing a salty-old farmer on his rusted out tractor cutting hay who knows how to get the job done, how to keep the hay dry, how to make it feed my cows well.

4 Comments

In the Field with No Time to Spare!

6/10/2010

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Nothing worse than a blog post that isn't renewed regularly! I've probably already said that before but so it goes. Once we are in the field harvesting, and while that schedule coalesces with planting AND cultivating AND tours AND summer activities for our kids AND AND AND, this is low on the priority list.

We've had continued incredibly late nights and are trying to see where the rest might come. Someone said to me the other day that it rained, so what is there to do! I know they don't know the scope of the farm...as there is still harvesting & animal chores & bookkeeping & much other. So here is the apology. Next is the real post!

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Keeping It Real Part II

5/16/2010

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The 2 am nights (mornings) continue. We've gotten so much great work done in the last month but the spring sprint may not show its finish line even at the Summer Solstice. It may just go on. And the rain is demanding that we are dance partners in a dance we don't wish to step to any longer right now.

Tomorrow we begin our summer season CSA so there are a myriad of details to remember...the small stuff (and the big stuff too). Extra bags, table for harvest pick up, did everyone get the message, someone wants to switch to another day, is everything clean -- scales, totes, harvest tables, wash sinks, and the newsletter ....what to share, what to eat, what to give. Plus picking & packing the veggies!

Eyes will close at the computer tonight. After weary heads find the pillow, these farmers will have the essence of rain coming through an open window, images of gorgeous plants swimming in our heads, realizations of forgotten tasks, expectation of tomorrow's harvest -- mud on gorgeous spinach leaves, mud on radishes, mud on baby turnips, mud all over us. Everything will wash...our mud, our food, our clothes, and be we will renewed for this coming glorious season.

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Keeping It Real: Part 1

5/6/2010

2 Comments

The last post was on, hm...April 20, which is 2 1/2 weeks ago. Aiming for weekly posts, on Sunday, but we'll see as the season progresses. The realities of the spring sprint being fully upon us & within us is here. Right now. In the past two weeks have planted thousands and thousands of transplants, seeded thousands upon thousands of seeds, sold thousands of plants (or close too it) and have thousands more to tend to in or near the greenhouse & to continue to sell, happily.

This is the time of year when social is put aside, basic family needs are met, just barely, and we get up early and stay up until way past late. Preparing for market and the plant sales had us up until 2 am or 3 am most nights (or mornings)...so we didn't fall behind in our planting & animal tasks as well, plus family & home. Nightly 2 am lights-out doesn't take very long to catch up to you when you are doing this work. So it goes.

We know this is part of the deal & it isn't a complaint at all, but always is a bit of a wonder that every year is similar. Really, say we...isn't there something we can do different. And we improve things, get more efficient, make changes & choices. But largely is just what it is. It is just part of the rhythm of the work we do. Row crops have a different rhythm than produce. And all the rhythms of chicks, layers, pigs, cattle & produce generally work fairly well together...even in the spring it works. If we work. Alot.

Lucky us really. We have good work to do. Something tangible to see growing. Food on the table for ourselves & others. Meaningful work. That is worth a sprint annually, or quarterly or monthly perhaps. Rest comes later. And more deeply we hope.

2 Comments

Food is Love

4/20/2010

4 Comments

Tempting to leave the entirety of the entry as simply that, because shouldn't it be that simple? But surely you say, it's not...or someone would want to expound on the absoluteness of obesity & food being the love or some other related twist.

But aside from the imbalances and dis-eased aspects of food & such related to it, which is most likely not love, but as a substitute for love, I rather think food is love. Good food. Warm healthy nourishing food. Provisions for the day-sort-of-food. Tea when you need a sit-down sort of love. Care. Compassion. Nutrition. Taste. Warmth or cold. Vitality. Breaking of the bread. Health.

My husband thought this was a silly saying when I first said it to him many years ago. He was off to haul hay on a very cold Wisconsin day...lots of snow, lots of ice. But we'd bought a lot of hay at an auction & the hay needed to be hauled, needed to be had.

So, off he drove with a couple others & I handed him a big jar of our version of quick trail mix -- chocolate chips, raisins, sunflower seeds (if you're lucky), nuts of whatever type we have around. I said, "food is love," as I handed it to him & he reluctantly took it & thought it silly. Likely I included a thermos of tea, but don't remember that part. And then, when they came home, many hours later because of delays with ice & loading, he was so grateful for the trail mix. So glad that it was there because of the cold & the effort of the day...he realized what care that meant. To be cared for, to care for others in a helpful, positive, good way through food...sustenance, more.

Many many jars of trail mix later & cookies & home-grown, home-made road provisions, field lunches, coffee breaks at the tractor, cold tea in the field, picnics at the end of planting hundreds of yards of potatoes & a growing lifetime of growing good food, it is our quiet understanding that food is love.

4 Comments

Our radio appearance on "The Joy Factor"

4/13/2010

1 Comment

Sheila Stratton was so nice to have us on her lovely weekly show "The Joy Factor" a couple of weeks ago. Listen in. Thanks Sheila!

http://clrhrzn.sc112.info/JoyFactorInterviews/JF20Farmers.mp3

1 Comment

Busy as Bees

4/9/2010

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Despite working loads this time of year, it seems so mundane to US to put on a blog the tasks of the day...more soil mixing, more compost sifting, more seeds planted in the greenhouse, more baby plants potted on into bigger pots...but it isn't mundane to others perhaps. And it is glorious work most of the time. Started hardening off brassicas today (that means cabbages, broccoli, kale & similar) as well as some flowers & lettuces for market/plant sales that we wouldn't mind slowing down a bit.

Today I looked up for a minute and just for a brief moment & couldn't think what to do next. For just a tiny minute. Slowly shifting from autopilot in the greenhouse to a mix of more field and less greenhouse, over the course of the next month or so.

Baby chicks were to have arrived this week and the order got bumped to next week -- which isn't all bad because of the upgrades being made on that chicken house (one of four moveable ones). Getting insulated more completely, with new walls on top of the insulation, among other. A gift of time when we look at the glass half-full.

Now the chicks are supposed to arrive the same day as hogs, who will also get an upgraded hut...a nice A-frame to be retro-fitted to protect them from wind & weather.

So it goes in the farm week. Feels so good to get our hands dirty & have the sun break through the clouds again. We've been eating outside for lunch time...enjoying it before it becomes a default (because we're too rushed to go in) or too busy on harvest days to stop & eat.

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The Impact of Organic, Sustainable Farm Family in relation to No Impact

3/30/2010

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Watched the movie "No Impact Man" last week. In the movie (& real life), food is a key part of no impact. In reflecting about it as a/the farmer, It is worthwhile to pause & think further about creating the food that folks feel good about buying & eating to better their part of the no impact, less impact, smaller carbon footprint...however one wants to phrase it. Our scenario is so much different than any urban setting, so cautiously we reflect rather than compare. Too much to explain the entirety of the film, but you can imagine that the project for one year was the husband, wife & little daughter lived at no impact - or as little as they could -- for one year. Food is a huge part of the equation of making an impact in relation to our use, resource & waste (fossil fuels on many levels, packaging, garbage, etc) on our society & on the Earth. No Impact Man buys from farmers' market, buys direct from farmers & holidays at a farm to see how his food is grown. Bravo we say.

As the farmer part of the good goal of being less/no impact, this creates our own interesting reflections. We try ourselves to be/have less impact, but ironically feel in many ways that we have more impact than when we weren't farming. We live in the country, so we need cars. We have a farm so we need a truck. We deliver to town so we need to drive more. We used to just ride bikes & take the bus. But we didn't eat our own food as much...now we eat a huge portion of our food from our own veggies, herbs, beef, pork & eggs. Milk comes from the neighbor & often cheese too. Apples come from a nearby orchard & often from another neighbor. That same neighbor gives us pears oft times. We can buy local honey also. We buy mostly used of most things, including clothes & cars...but their are daily exceptions despite our best (or moderately best) efforts.

In examining our personal & our farming impact, it is easy to be critical of ourselves & look at how we can do more...but we have always tried to create a whole farm system that inherently stewards the land, doesn't consume it...using it up, spitting it out, gobbling it up for more. It feels impossible to separate the personal from the farming in this (and nearly every) instance. It is our life. It is who we are, what we do.

We know people that eat our food feel good about it coming from so close to where they live. That's great. We're glad. For us, it is an interesting exercise & brain twist for us to extend lessening the impact to how we as the farmer is doing in relation to the smaller & bigger picture. Not just field work, but life work. This is really nothing new in a question, but as the farmers, somehow gave us pause that people are counting on us to continue the low-impact equation. Is it really very much better if someone buys local & organic from us, yet if we were indeed completely careless about using up, gobbling up, irrigating with wild abandon and so on...in short, if a farm happens to be local, but the practices are no better, is it better? We have more impact than we wish we did, but we're working on it. With an eye that the professional & the personal blend completely for us here & we're counted on to grow food conscientiously every day. We take it seriously while having fun & know that our community is counting on this integrity.

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scratchin' dirt
here & now

There's a lot more to scratching dirt (farming) than it looks like from the road, from the lane, from the grocers' shelves, from the restaurant table. It's a calling with joys, travails & curiosities that we NEVER imagined in our wildest dreams!

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